The fishbowl method as a strategy to discuss terminality of life in medical graduation

Abstract

Discussing the termination of life should be a priority of undergraduate health courses. Such growing importance is justified by experience before death being something beyond a simple biological event. It is a radical human experience for those who live and care for and accompany the patient. It is unquestionably a time of fear and uncertainty, but also of care, love and gratitude, and can be a point of reconciliation, responsibility, learning and transformation for all involved. The purpose of this experiment was to describe the conceptions of first year medical graduates about the termination of life, observed during health education activities performed using the fishbowl method. It was concluded that the fishbowl method brought benefits to the activity by stimulating less participatory students to debate while keeping in the state of attention and observation those who were commonly more exalted. Avoiding harmful interdictions to the teaching-learning process. After the educational activity, the students were more confident about the topics addressed and changed their behavior in order to respect the patient’s wishes and to insert the family in the decision making process.